One of Garmin’s newer eTrex H-series receivers, the Legend HCx updates the very popular Legend Cx. The “H” stands for high-sensitivity chipset, to ensure great satellite reception under canopy and in other situations where you have a limited view of the sky.
Like its predecessor, the Legend HCx has a bright color screen and a micro-SD card slot for loading topo or highway maps. A great handheld GPS, the Legend HCx also autoroutes, so you can add City Navigator maps and a mount, and use it for turn-by-turn highway navigation in your car. The button layout may make it a little awkward for this purpose though; a better choice for dual use might be the Garmin 60CSx.
Compare prices on the Garmin eTrex Legend HCx
Step up to the Garmin eTrex Vista HCx to add a barometric altimeter and electronic compass. Moving down in the H-series line to the Summit HC or Venture HC, you lose the auto-routing capability and the expandable memory. To see how the Legend HCx stands up against other Garmin models, check out my Garmin handheld GPS comparison chart.
Garmin eTrex Legend HCx performance
The new eTrex H-series uses MediaTek’s MTK chipset, which compared favorably with the 60CSX’s SiRFstar III chipset during my testing.
The Legend HCx also performed well in accuracy tests. In a hike in a local park with relatively dense tree cover, the accuracy was never worse than 23 feet.
The other thing I noticed in comparing this unit to my 60CSx was the significantly brighter screen on the Legend HCx.
Garmin eTrex Legend HCx layout
I doubted that I would like the button layout but, as Garmin usually does, they’ve made it pretty intuitive. So let’s take a closer look at that before we go any further.
* Power key – In addition to the on/off function, you can press and release to adjust backlighting, and view the time, date and remaining battery charge.
* Legend_hcx_trip_computerQuit / Page – Press to cycle through pages. This button will also
terminate the use of any on-screen keyboard or back you out of a menu.
* Zoom in/out – In addition to zooming the map, on any other screen, use it to scroll through a list or use a slider bar.
* Menu / Find – Press and hold to see the Find screen. Press and release to display a page’s menu. Press again to get to the main menu.
* Enter / Rocker – Press down on this “thumbstick” to enter. Move the thumbstick / rocker right-left or up-down to navigate menus or pan the map. You can also mark a waypoint at your current location by pressing and holding.
It may sound complicated, but it becomes second nature very quickly. You can discover most functions in the field. The two press and hold functions (Find and Mark Waypoint) are the only ones you really need to remember. The rest is incredibly intuitive.
Customizing your Legend HCx
One of the great things about Garmin handhelds is that they can be customized to display the information that is most important to you. The hunter, geocacher, cyclist, and hiker will all have different needs.
The trip computer screen has lots of options for customization, as you can see. Each field can be changed independently, choosing from a list of 34 options. A “Big numbers” option reduces the number of visible fields to three, providing an easier to read display, a feature that cyclists or the visually impaired may find useful.
Similarly, the compass screen and map screen both allow you to customize display fields.
I also recommend going into the setup menu and exploring each option.
credit : http://gpstracklog.com/2007/07/garmin-etrex-le.html
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